SOURCE: "Stoppard's Jumpers: A Mystery Play," in Modern Drama, Vol. 20, No. 1, March, 1977, pp. 87-95.

In this essay, Gabbard categorizes Jumpers as a meta-physical detective story.

Tom Stoppard's Jumpers is a many-splendored mystery play—so many-splendored that it is, metaphorically, a kaleidoscope. Bright fragments of many forms and many themes make new configurations with each twist of the dial. The most obvious ingredients are rollicking comedy and metaphysics. This combination recalls the mystery plays of medieval times which mixed morality and Bible stories with humorous and grotesque details. Stopping there, however, would misrepresent and over-simplify the generic classification of Jumpers for the kaleidoscope contains bits of many genres assembled in the overall design of a "whodunit."

Applied to form, the mystery is not "whodunit?" but "whatisit?" Some critics call the play a farce, and it does employ many farcical techniques. It makes beautiful mischief with mistaken identity. George assumes...